TV Show "The Walking Dead" to Film in June

May 4,2010

TWD Productions, LLC, with the support of the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Office and assistance of the City of Atlanta, will begin filming a episodic television series entitled ‘The Walking Dead’ beginning June 2nd, 2010 in Atlanta and the greater metro area. The pilot and five episodes are being produced as an original series for the American Movie Channel (AMC).

‘The Walking Dead’ is an adaptation of Robert Kirkman's popular illustrative novel series where an epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. The story is set in Atlanta and other areas of Georgia and the southeast. Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption,” ”The Green Mile,” and “The Mist”) is the project's writer, director, and executive producer with Gale Anne Hurd (“The Terminator,” “The Abyss,” “The Incredible Hulk”) also executive producing.

We scouted various areas of Atlanta looking for a canyon-like streetscape that is visually interesting, with less vehicular traffic, especially on weekends, and contained within a few square blocks. The Fairlie-Poplar District is the only section of the city we found that fits these needs

The action that takes place in the scenes we would like to film in your neighborhood is of our main character arriving on horseback in a post-apocalyptic Atlanta. He finds that the city has been over run with the living dead and there is evidence of looting and anarchy in the city. The streets are strewn with abandoned vehicles and military equipment; an abandoned tank sits in an intersection. The atmosphere is tense and otherworldly: the city is apparently void of human life until our hero is suddenly surrounded by the living dead and he engages in a fight for his life.

The final scenes of the pilot episode and scenes for the second episode would be filmed during daylight hours over the course of two (2) weekends. The first weekend would be scheduled for June 11–13; the second weekend is scheduled for July 2–4.

Filming these scenes would require the closing of Walton, Forsyth and Poplar Streets. The closure on Walton Street would extend from Cone Street to the west to Broad Street to the east. The closure for Forsyth Street would extend from Marietta Street to the south to Luckie Street to the north. The closure of Poplar would extend from Fairlie Street to the west to Broad Street to the east. The closures would begin at 7PM on Friday, June 11th through 5AM Monday, June 14th and from 7PM on Friday, July 2nd through 5AM, Monday, July 5th.

Everyone associated with TWD Productions, LLC will endeavor to ensure that this is a positive filming experience for the Fairlie/Poplar District. Due to the ambitious scope and nature of what we would like to accomplish we are concerned that residents, retail businesses and planned events could be negatively impacted by the street closures and the filming. The purpose of this letter is intended to be both informative to you and helpful to us. We ask that you contact us as soon as possible if you have issues or concerns.